The Old Ice House

Why is it that sometimes something that happened in the past is now funny or seems funny. This incident at the time was serious I guess.

It concerned the old ice house with the big earthen pit and the huge bricks of ice that were occassionally put down there to keep everything cool. I wonder now at the extra work my parents had before electricity ever came. I too lived a brief two months without a refridgerator and I can appreciate what it took to keep food cool enough so that it wouldn't spoil. 

Refridgerators may have been invented then, but we didn't have one. Mother and Father used to ship cream and butter to the creamery from time to time and it also was kept in the pit along with the everyday food.

This one day, the lid had been left open, or maybe the door to the ice house was left open, I am not sure now after all these years, it just happened., as things do happen from time to time. Mother was not at all pleased with this senario especially when she found a skunk parked in the bottom of the pit with all of our perishables.

Here is the crunch, how do you get a skunk out of a 10 foot hole? Yes it was that deep, everything was hauled up with a rope. A scream penetrated the air as Mother backed away from the shed where the pit was. Dad came running to see what was the matter when the smell hit him face on. He also let out a bellow calling whomever a few choice words.

A lively and heated discussion took place as to who was to blame, but the fact still stood that the skunk was still down in the pit and we were out of all of the food that was in the pit. Of course it would have to be destroyed. I can't remember if there was any cream cans or a large stock of butter down there or not.

My Dad decided the only way to get the animal out of the pit was to shoot it and my Mother was quite adamant that he not shoot it and ruin the pit while doing so. I couldn't figure out how at the time, but now I can as earth can soak up and contain scent for quite a spell. In the end after a period of waiting to see if the skunk could climb out of that 10 foot hole, Dad did shoot the creature.  It was weeks before his clothing were wearable and the smell disappeared. During those days, you did not throw things away, you cleaned and reused. What with all of the food being destroyed and a pit that was unusable, my mother then canvassed my dad for a refrigerator.

I can't recall what type of fridge it was, but I can recall how my mother's workload was made easier with the fridge. It was also a treat for us children, we had easy access to the rich farm cream that clotted at the top, cool milk to drink whenever we wanted some, and a place to put all the leftovers in the kitchen within easy reach instead of using the pit.